


Inexorable Imperatives

by LadyVader



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Canon Divergence - Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Canon Divergence - Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Eavesdropping, First Kiss, Getting Together, Grammarly is my copilot, Hair Braiding, M/M, Not Beta Read, Prompt Fic, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22684813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyVader/pseuds/LadyVader
Summary: Bruce stumbles over Thor and Loki having a quiet moment together. Eavesdropping, hair braiding, and perspective-altering smooches ensue.[Set in a post-Ragnarok 'verse where the mid-credits scene NEVER HAPPENED and everything really IS gonna work out fine!]Written for Reader4Books for the prompt: I want one of the Avengers to walk in on Thor and Loki doing each other's hair...
Relationships: Loki/Thor, Loki/Thor (Marvel)
Comments: 37
Kudos: 255





	Inexorable Imperatives

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reader4books](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reader4books/gifts).



> Reader4Books requested a fic for this prompt from one of the Norse Kink boards:
> 
> _I want one of the Avengers to walk in on Thor and Loki doing each other's hair. You can decide the reason- is it a warrior/pre-battle ritual? Childhood habit that they never wanted to give up? An obsession/fetish/kink? I would love to see how the Avenger of your choice reacts.  
>  +1 Braids/plaits are involved.  
> +10 Bruce, Clint, and/or Steve are the ones to walk in on them.  
> +100 (If Loki/Thor) Thor sneaks kisses to Loki's neck or shoulders while doing his hair. X  
> +1000 Loki snarks/complains during. (i.e. "You're doing it wrong, it'll be uneven if you keep that up!", "Stop yanking you brute!”  
> +10000 Loki notices they're being spied on before Thor, and winks at the Avenger in question.  
> +100000 Thor has a blast._
> 
> I wasn't able to pull off aaaalllll the points but I gave it a good crack ;) also, if whoever posted the original prompt comes across this, I hope it's ok that I gave it a go, I couldn't find the original posting but hopefully if you ever see this you enjoy it xxx

**Inexorable Imperatives:**

Bruce made his way through the lower decks with something akin to a skip in his step.

After months aboard the 'Statesman' one of the Asgardians had gone into early labour unexpectedly and right in the middle of the dining area and -- during the hubbub of people desperately fleeing to fetch the healers and Sakaarian ex-gladiators shoving dining tables aside -- the Hulk had decided to cede control to Bruce. Apparently, the Goddess of death was one thing but a shrieking, sweating petite blonde woman crying in pain and fright was just too terrifying for the big guy to handle.

Now they were all set to make landfall on a friendly world (Xander? Xandor? Something like that) that they had been in negotiations with for the month or so that they'd been in signal range, and Bruce was almost giddy at the notion of breathing actual fresh air and getting the hell out of the flying tin can they'd all been forced to call home in the wake of Asgard's destruction.

They'd been scanning the surrounding star systems pretty much from the moment it sunk in that Asgard was truly gone, reduced to nothing more than shards and rubble racing their ship across the stars, with Thor determined to find a home for his people in a way that made Bruce's chest ache to witness.

The only way he'd been able to help (Thor having spurned Bruce's attempts to comfort him, clearly too raw and guilt-ridden to allow himself to believe that he'd done the right thing) had been to assist in setting the scans, the computers searching for an ideally unpopulated planet or moon with certain qualities to the soil and atmosphere that supported Asgardian physiology. Heimdall had been forward-thinking enough (or possibly actually prescient, Bruce wasn't quite sure how his supposed 'all-sight' worked and had as yet lacked the nerve to pry, even in the name of science) to remove certain items, once he'd realised the imminence of Hela's return.

Bruce only tended to retain titbits of the Hulk's recollections, sensing only flickers of the fight and from the arguments that had eventually followed once they were safe. He did remember, however, that Thor had gone from literally crackling with fury at yet another person he'd trusted keeping vital information from him, to utterly distraught over Heimdall's insistence that Odin should have lived many years longer, that it had been the loss of Frigga to break his will to live.

Loki had stormed off, seemingly overwhelmed by the news of Odin's apparent grief over his estrangement from his youngest son, but not before the Other Guy had smirked to himself as the 'puny god' had trembled and turned his back at the news that it had not been his enchantment over Odin that had led to his early passing after all.

Bruce hadn't been privy to any of the talks that had gone on between Heimdall, Thor and Loki since the realisation that Odin had sworn Heimdall to secrecy regarding Hela's imprisonment or the subsequent memory charms that had kept the population blind to her memory. The discovery, however, of Heimdall's 'stash' as Valkyrie had put it, had more than made up for his blind loyalty to a King who had grossly misled each of them at least once.

Along with several items of 'historical importance,' there were breeze-block sized tomes on healing, magic and the histories of the Realm Eternal. Both Loki and Thor had scoffed soundly at the latter in light of their newfound knowledge of Asgard's blemished past, only to each quieten at the pages and pages of their own recorded deeds, preserved in their mother's own sweeping, elegant hand for all time. Lastly, and best of all it seemed, Heimdall had thankfully had the foresight to seize Asgard's prized seed bank. It represented hundreds of plant species native to Asgard alone, most notably a type of apple tree that was apparently of great cultural significance and traditional value to the refugees and its announced recovery from their lost homeland was enough to prompt a feeling of relief so immense that the crowd had clutched and caught at each other, swaying and crying together as the Hulk watched on, unnerved.

Val later told Bruce that the apples supposedly were what had initially granted the ancient Asgardians their long lifespans and each generation that had grown up eating said fruit had been healthier and stronger than the last. The remaining number of Asgardians had been consumed by the terrible fear that any children they went on to bear might only be granted a mortal lifespan, dooming their parents to watch them age and die faster than they could seemingly blink and to have that fear at least mostly dashed was more uplifting than they had words to express. The possibility of finding some empty land rich enough to bear the Asgardian people their exalted fruit had restored hope to the remaining Asgardians and Bruce would have been lying if he'd said he hadn't been quietly hoping for the chance to analyse one of the apples someday.

He had been present for the momentous realisation, the day that they had all but stumbled upon their new 'great plan' to restore their Realm. Bruce had sat commiserating with Heimdall, Loki, Thor and Valkyrie as the reality of the vast emptiness of space all around them had chilled the Asgardians, their skin pallid in the artificial lights when Thor had made a dig at his own admittedly well-intentioned order to destroy their homeland, the quip failing to find its feet as a joke.

A quick tremor turned Thor's smile to a grimace as he attempted to make light of the fact that Asgard might well be any of the meteors hurtling alongside them at times and the truth of it had seemed to be the straw that broke the donkeys back. Thor's remaining eye had flickered shut as his hands gripped too tightly at the arms of his' throne' and Bruce had been scrambling for some form of reassurance, a joke, _anything_ he could think of to try and cut through his agony when Loki had cut in.

“Now, _that,_ brother, is an interesting thought indeed.”

The Valkyrie had looked ready to punch Loki's sudden slick smile back down his throat as he'd chuckled, reaching out to clasp Thor's shoulder, shaking him slightly as he beamed at Thor's nonplussed expression.

"Were you or were you not the most potent ally to agronomy and fertility that our tutors had seen for millennia? Did Freyr himself not _beg_ Father to send you to use your power when that blight passed between Vanaheim and Alfheim and threatened the crops of both?" 

Bruce had blinked, dumbfounded, "Wait, what? I'm not up on my mythology; you have _other_ powers? Besides the storm stuff?" 

Valkyrie (whose real name was apparently Brunnhilde, not that she answered to it anymore) had nudged him hard in the ribs, her smile as sharp as her elbow, "Best not to call it mythology when you're talking about our lives there, tiny. S'impolite." 

A good deal of the bone-deep grief had drained from Thor's face by that point, as he then stared, unseeing, out into the vast expanse of space with hope flowing slowly back into his expression.

"You're saying we don't need to find a planet already fit to take us, but --?" 

"— It wouldn't even need to be a planet. A fair-sized moon perhaps? Anything with atmosphere and gravity, or able to have either induced for our needs. We can _make_ it what we need it to be – between your power and mine, brother..." 

"You could remake Asgard entirely." Heimdall had intoned, his solemn tones giving the sudden burst of hope and wonderment a seriousness that sent chills racing over Bruce's skin.

Bruce had altered the scans within the hour, searching now for an unpopulated area, moon, meteor or whatsoever should match their needs, Thor all but openly weeping when he announced that the scans had located a landmass just shy of the size of the Midgardian subcontinent of India. It had once been a large moon, shattered by an event so long past that the planets in the neighbouring systems weren't entirely sure of the source of its destruction, only that it had been thus for nearly the entirety of their histories.

Xandar (Xandor? Bruce still wasn't sure) was the closest world of note, the capital planet of the Nova Empire and the asteroid was close enough to them to have been possibly considered their property had they chosen to stake a claim upon it but instead they had offered them refuge. The Xandarians were a relatively new power, recently formed after decades of conflict, proud of their peace and prosperity and they had been delighted at the chance to reach out and help a fellow race with the same ideals and the same desire to right their past wrongs by way of starting anew.

The plan was for the nine hundred or so Asgardian refugees to remain as valued guests of Nova Prime for the few weeks it would take Thor, Loki, Heimdall and Bruce, as well as an apparent few of the important council elders to assess the surrounding belt of meteorites with their proposed asteroid right at its heart.

The initial scans had shown what Bruce had expected – dead rock with a little nickel and iron – but the brothers had been all but giddy with its promise. Thor had awkwardly explained that not only did he possess the power to summon the storm, but that he could also will the very ground to be fertile, spoiled crops to be healthy again and, with a little outside help sorcery-wise from his now thankfully seemingly less evil brother, he could even bring forth fresh water.

Bruce had had several choice words to say on the help that Thor simply _had_ to give Earth when they returned to drop Bruce off. Not that it was looking likely for at least a year or more, but hey, Bruce had never been present at the birth of a new world before, science would thank him for this detour dammit, but for now, it was enough to see hope kindling in Thor's eyes once more, fresh purpose replacing the guilt and despair.

Now it seemed there was nothing more but to give one more rousing speech to the refugees and be on their way so that they could be back for them, with good news and a new fresh world to inhabit all the faster.

Bruce rounded a corner, just catching sight of Thor and Loki as they turned a corner into one of the storage areas turned habitats set up throughout the ship, their easy synchronised gait more telling than the idly bickered words flying back and forth between them.

The Hulk had been present for whatever reconciliation there had been back in the moments before Asgard's destruction, but there was little in his memories that could explain the transition between the maliciously smirking, bound psychopath of Sakaar and the bristling, defensive presence perpetually at Thor's shoulder, facing down any and all accusations lobbed his way with a stony, fixed expression that only the weight of Thor's smile could crack.

Bruce had waited, the Hulk a simmering shadow just beneath his skin, anticipating the need to drag Loki away moments before he could ram some sort of sharp object directly between Thor's shoulderblades, only to find Thor needed no such defence. _Loki_ was Thor’s main defender, advisor, right hand and perfect foil.

Bruce wondered if it was some sort of atonement for his prior deeds, Valkyrie thought that it was likely a pre-emptive move to keep Thor from casting him straight back through the Devil's Anus and if Heimdall had any insight from the steady, golden gaze he kept trained upon the brothers, well then he was simply too dignified to share it with a mere earthling. Whatever his motives, it had to be said, that Loki seemed to be keeping to whatever promise he'd made to Thor, reverting to what Bruce assumed had been their former sibling dynamic, only with more half-smiles and less violence than he had previously witnessed.

"… I'm simply saying that with enough training you could learn to do it for yourself, it was only an enchantment, you possess the basic seidr levels to replicate it-" 

"-Yes, only it was _Father's_ enchantment, anchored to _Mjolnir_ herself, the two powers combined are what summoned the armour to me. Besides, I feel oddly bereft without a weapon to hand. I would like to wield one again." 

"What, so that you can rely on it overmuch and forget how to harness your powers again? Capital idea brother, let us set out for Nidavellir at once!" 

Bruce rounded the same entranceway he'd seen the brothers pass through, only to blunder to an awkward halt, storage and equipment crates stacked in blocks and towers about the space as Thor and Loki bickered, standing before what looked to be an open crate of clothing, with a mirror set atop a stack of several loose boxes about them.

Thor's answering glower to Loki's smirk was easily visible in the mirror, and Bruce found himself diving behind the closest pillar of storage boxes, feeling hideously surplus to requirement as he hid from the very person he'd been seeking, abruptly unwilling to interrupt the Princes as they continued to verbally spar even as Thor turned to face the mirror propped before him.

He lifted a large hand to prod clumsily at the eyepatch that still seemed a surprise every time Bruce looked at it, that one change somehow more startling than the loss of Thor's hair, princely robes or hammer.

"You joke, brother, but I would head to Nidavellir right now had we not more pressing concerns at the moment. We are a people without a home, and that is by far more important than anything I have lost, no matter how ragged I may appear to the Xandarians, but I would feel better in myself if I could have my own weapon to hand once more." 

Loki rolled his eyes so hard that Bruce's temples pinched in sympathy.

“You _are_ your own weapon, oaf. But if it truly bothers you that much to be seen as you are by Nova Prime, then I could always…?" 

A green glimmer travelled over Thor's form, and for a moment it seemed to Bruce that he was looking at the man who'd summoned storm enough to give Vision life, complete with gleaming golden hair, a billowing scarlet cape and – Bruce winced, slightly – two bright blue eyes.

Thor sighed, smiling ruefully before gesturing to Loki with a slightly shaking hand.

"I appreciate the thought Loki, but as you say, better she sees me as I am." 

Only a few weeks before, Bruce would likely have found himself irritated by Loki's use of magic to make Thor feel bad about himself but, having watched them work side by side to take care of their people for so long, Bruce had learned to spot of few of Loki's tells. Dipping his chin, Loki smiled momentarily at the floor as he dropped the illusion from Thor's frame and Bruce knew then that he had wanted Thor to choose his true form, to own to newly battered skin he lived in and be happy to call it his.

Bruce was reluctantly impressed. He of all people knew how hard that choice could be.

Smoothing his expression back into merely impatient, Loki raised a brow at Thor.

"So, you're happy with the black armour then? You don't wish for me to add a cape or anything?" 

Thor gave his brother a sidelong glance, taking in the space at his shoulders where Loki's habitual green cape no longer hung.

"Not unless you feel we should?" 

Loki nudged Thor's shoulder with his own until they were each just about stood before the mirror, both hunching and grimacing to stay in the frame, fighting small grins until Loki cleared his throat to stare disdainfully at each of their reflections.

“No. No, I feel you're right – for _once_ , brother – simplicity will better reflect our current circumstances whilst the lack of ostentation will stop us seeming desperate to impress. That _said_ …”

The green glow travelled over the pair of them then, and Bruce had to bite back a low whistle of appreciation, impressed by the sudden sheen over their leather armour, the princes' skin and hair both seeming healthier than it had looked in weeks as even Thor's eyepatch suddenly shone like new.

Thor smiled, and Loki hissed, cringing away as though pained, waving his hand once more to summon invisible fingers to rapidly undo the neat, tight braids that had momentarily formed in the hair just above each ear.

"It's no use," he groused, glaring at his reflection as the narrow braids undid themselves, leaving his long black hair, un-gelled it seemed for once, to fall loosely about his face and Bruce abruptly recalled the small, tight braids that had held Thor's hair away from his face, "enchanted braids are always far too tight for comfort. Mother never did tell me her secret for them." 

Thor smiled even as something in his eyes dimmed.

"She always refused to tell me as well. I think it's because she preferred to do them for us, for as long as we would let her." 

Something bittersweet skittered over Loki's expression for a moment before he offered Thor his own tight smile in turn.

"It was only when we were each finally taller than her that she stopped insisting, but she never did teach me her charm for them." 

Chuckling, Thor stepped back and sideways until he stood behind Loki, his hands rising to pull several delicate, black locks between his fingers.

"Nor I, but then I always assumed my talents for seidr were so clumsy by comparison to yours that I would end with a gorse bush on my head should I attempt it and so," he quickly drew the tendrils back and forth against themselves and a neat, narrow braid began to form, "I watched closely as she did yours until I could perform a rough approximation of hers for myself." 

Thor paused, abruptly stiffening as his eyes caught Loki's startled eyes in the mirror before them.

"I mean… that is, I can? If it's alright?" 

Nodding slowly, Loki let his wide eyes fall shut, swaying slightly as Thor resumed his task, his already large hands seeming suddenly as bear claws to Bruce's watchful gaze, the steady plaiting of Loki's long, gleaming strands oddly soothing as Thor made order from chaos, the slim, sleek braid continuing down to Loki's shoulder blade before he switched to the other side to begin again.

"It's official," Loki sighed after a long enough time that Bruce found himself swaying on his feet, seemingly entranced to the point of napping as he hid, "I'm taking the throne and you're going to be my royal hairdresser. I'll not have you ruin these hands hefting weaponry about when you could be doing this for me every day instead." 

His voice had settled into something between a slur, and a purr and Bruce was struck by how delighted Thor appeared to be by Loki's words, radiating happiness even as he grinned playfully at Loki's face in the mirror, the still closed eyes almost serene as Thor's fingers moved through his hair.

"You underestimate me as always, Loki," he rumbled in turn, "I can easily do both. Besides, we can make the throne to suit us this time. I never could understand why it was built so wide and yet not enough to take two side by side. We should either have two normal-sized ones next to each other or take a leaf from Freyr and Freyja's book and have one wide enough to easily seat us both, at _which_ point I think you'll find there will be space enough for us to hold court with our subjects _and_ I can braid your hair as often as is needed." Thor chuckled to himself at what was apparently quite the amusing mental image and Bruce's stomach cramped with the need to hug his friend who, at over a millennium in age, had still such a sweet and childlike heart. "Would you like me to secure them at the back or would you rather I leave them as… they… are…?" 

Thor's voice tailed off slowly, and Bruce stiffened with him, both suddenly aware of Loki's piercing gaze, resting sharp on Thor's face.

“ _Two_ thrones, brother? Whatever for?”

Sighing heavily, Thor resumed his task, pulling the two slim braids back around the crown of Loki's head and Bruce found his focus drawn to where Thor's fingers worked to combine the two plaits into a neat tail, seemingly oblivious to the almost desperate gaze resting upon him.

"You give truth to my words, Loki. You underestimate me, yet again. We were raised together, we were told that we would rule together, and it is from the point where our parents divided us with lies - no matter how well-meant - that everything began to fall apart. No matter our parents' intentions or what followed afterwards, we are here now _together_ and stronger for it, but for all I mean every word I have said," 

Thor paused, raising his eyes from where Loki's single braid now hung, glossy and perfect under the ships artificial light, to hold Loki's unblinking gaze, 

"What it _truly_ comes down to is not our upbringing, nor the expectations placed upon us, but that we are always better together, brother. I cannot make this new world - _our_ new world - without you. You cannot make it the way that we plan to, without me. Asgardia will be ours, yours and mine and I don't know if I'm more sad or angry that you could think I would rule it without you now. This land, this new Realm is _ours,_ Loki. Two Kings united, wise in different ways, raised to each anchor the other, two thrones, one kingdom, Loki. Because together, we can do _anything_.”

Bruce couldn't breathe, even more horribly aware that he was still inadvertently intruding on a private moment, now more than ever as Thor extended the mother of all olive branches to the equivalent of an immortal wildfire, his hand pressed over his mouth to muffle himself as Bruce watched Thor quickly tweak the end of Loki's braid.

"There, all done." Thor rasped, voice shaking even as he tried to keep his expression impassive, eyes fixed on Loki as he slowly turned to face him, slapping Thor's twitching fingers away from his neat handiwork even as he ignored Thor's hairstyling efforts entirely.

"You," Loki enunciated carefully, with slightly more teeth flashing than Bruce felt was standard for normal speech, "want us to rule _together_?" 

Thor's expression twisted in the mirror, genuine hurt brimming in his one blue eye fixed upon Loki's somehow even more than usually pale face as he lifted a broad palm to cup Loki's nape in the way Bruce had learned was habitual between them, tugging him closer by said hold as his other hand took Loki's shoulder to shake him lightly.

“I _told_ you, Loki… _side by side, forever_. If we can make this world together, we can rule it that way as well! ...I-“

Thor broke off, visibly choked as he shook Loki again only to drag him closer, pressing their foreheads together and closing his eye as his lips trembled with his words.

"I honestly believe there is _nothing_ that we cannot achieve, if only we are together, Loki. I don't want to be ever without you again, whether we rule a band of refugees trawling the stars for our next meal, or over a land bursting with possibility and promise, I…." 

“Oh, shut _up_ you oaf…” Loki burst out, his hands abruptly clawing into the leather of Thor's chest plate and, before Bruce could do more than choke in a horrified breath believing himself to be seconds from witnessing Thor's abrupt evisceration, Loki slammed his lips against Thor's.

Bruce choked on the same breath as it headed back out on a gasp, the sound thankfully smothered by Thor's startled gasp as he tore his mouth free, gaping into Loki's face.

"L-Loki?" He croaked, but where Bruce expected to see shock or even revulsion on Thor's face, there was instead a slow spread of pink and something so close to hope that it made Bruce's chest ache to witness it even as a flicker of something perilously like hunger stole over Loki's smile.

"Yes, Thor… _Yes_ …” He snarled and lunged forward, dragging Thor's mouth back to his on a long, low groan, surprising a similar (and equally disturbing) noise from Thor as he shifted, tilting their kiss from clumsy into something searching and _hungry_ as they each tightened their shaking grip on each other.

Bruce felt himself breathing past his shock somehow, his body allowing just enough movement to stay alive even as the rest of him stood, locked in place as his mind tried to wrap itself about what he was witnessing.

It was like watching two lovers separated by war reuniting.

It looked violent and angry, and painfully tender all at once and, Bruce allowed with a somewhat queasy swallow, an awful lot like _love_.

Pulling back on a gasp, Thor swayed visibly, his face tucked against Loki's throat as he stood panting in his brother's steadying embrace, and Bruce realised abruptly that Loki's gaze had narrowed towards where he'd thought he stood invisible, in the shadows.

“Loki… _brother,_ " Thor ground out, sounding quietly devastated and yet elated all at once, and Loki steered Thor's face back to his, holding him almost nose to nose with him, Loki's hand clenched tightly in the spiked hair at Thor's crown.

" _Adopted_ ," he hissed back, his tone admonishing even as his glare softened into something painfully similar to adoration to Bruce's eyes, cringing despite himself as Thor sealed their mouths together once more, and Loki moaned softly into the kiss.

_They're not actually brothers_ , Bruce chanted to himself and then, _They're not human, hell from what Thor said they're not even the same species, who am I to say what's weird?_

He shuddered just the same though when Thor made an oddly vulnerable yet indecent sound as Loki openly curled his tongue upwards past Thor's lips, the hand braced about Loki's nape shooting upwards into his hair to attempt to drag him even closer only to meet sudden resistance.

Loki pushed him back a step, teeth bared savagely even as his eyes danced.

"Careful, you clumsy brute," He raised a hand to extract Thor's grasping fingers from his hair, "You'll _ruin_ my hair!" 

He did something complicated with his face that Bruce couldn't seem to follow, somehow smouldering up at Thor from beneath his lashes while simultaneously looking down his nose at him. It certainly seemed to delight Thor though, who grinned and pulled him close again, by way of what looked troublingly like a hand on Loki's ass.

"You like them then? The braids?" He rumbled, nuzzling close for a kiss only to find Loki slipping, eel-like, from his grasp, a faint green shimmer following his palms as he smoothed them over his ruffled clothing.

He cocked a mocking brow at Thor.

"I suppose they'll do," he drawled as though he hadn't actively slapped Thor away from touching them not once, but twice, dancing forward to press a swift kiss to Thor's smiling lips before darting out and away from his arms. "Now, I must go and freshen up. Some witless oaf is making a speech shortly, and it wouldn't do for one of the future Kings of Asgardia to be caught rumpled before our people." 

Thor's smile was dazzling even as he blinked, visibly reeling as he tried to pull himself together as he watched Loki walk away.

Bruce held as still as he could, but still, Loki paused next to his own personal peeping spot, not even seeming to know which crate he lurked behind as Loki inclined his chin mockingly.

"Banner," he greeted him silkily, winking before he swanned away down the corridor as though he hadn't just had his destiny dramatically altered - this time for the better - a new path laid out before him, just waiting for him to drag Thor along for the ride.

Not that it looked like Thor would need all that much convincing regarding said _ride_.

Cringing, Bruce looked back to Thor, hoping he wouldn't be angry at Bruce's presence, inadvertent eavesdropper or not, somehow unsurprised to find Thor's eyes on his own as he faced the mirror once more.

"Banner – my thoughts, I…" Thor broke off, voice husky with confusion and feelings Bruce wasn't rushing to pinpoint, stepping free of his hiding place as he approached Thor, watching as the taller man shook his head in seeming disbelief, "Am I… do you think… am I finally losing my mind?" 

Bruce sank his hands into his pockets, grimacing and trying to hold Thor's single eye even as he shrugged, deliberately overlooking Thor's damp, swollen lips.

"Maybe? I mean, you've lost a lot recently, so, sure, I guess?" Bruce made a clumsy attempt at a reassuring smile, abruptly determined to keep that new spark of hope alive in Thor's confused if open expression, "But – and don't take this as an endorsement or anything cos I _really_ need to _not_ be a part of whatever the hell this is – but maybe you've found something too? Something new?" 

"New," Thor repeated, gaze suddenly distant, turning both yearning and sad all at once, something trembling within the normally rich rumble of his voice and Bruce found himself pushing forward, a hand at Thor's elbow until they faced each other.

"Yeah, I mean, thing's change, you've changed, your whole life's changed?" Bruce could feel an odd sense desperation clawing at him, like the rise of _green_ he sometimes felt creeping up the back of his skull, ready to take his subconscious rage for a joyride, only this time it felt more like pain, not rage.

Thor was an Avenger, but more than that, he was _good people_ , he hadn't always been someone Bruce had classed as a friend, but now, with both their pasts in bits behind them, they'd forged a bond and Bruce was ready to fight to keep that friendship the way Tony had fought to keep his, and the way Nat…. _hadn't_.

But that was kind of the whole point here. Thor had lost _everything_ and somehow also saved everyone. It should have made him happy, but his responsibilities as King hadn't allowed him to grieve his father, his land, hell, he'd even hand-waved the whole lost eye thing away when Bruce had tried to help with it. He'd spent so long cramming his grief down that - sincerely grossed out or not - Bruce couldn't help but want this for Thor, even if it meant somehow getting the Hulk to give Loki his blessing.

Sighing, Bruce smiled up at Thor.

"But it's... You and Loki, I mean…" Bruce made an expansive gesture, trying to encapsulate how _very_ unqualified he was to address the subject, grinning as the motion surprised an answering smirk from Thor, "Change is - _sometimes_ anyway – it can be for the best... Adapt or die, right?" 

Thor snorted, the faded, wobbly look draining from his expression, as he chuckled, lightly blushing even as he nodded heartily in agreement.

“Indeed. I believe my entire purpose in giving this speech to my subjects is to tell them precisely that, that the best thing we can do now as a people is to embrace our chance now for new beginnings and embrace the challenges they bring." 

Thrilled beyond words that they hadn't had to outright discuss the actuality of Thor's burgeoning ( _long past burgeoned? how long had they even been repressing those feelings for anyway? Never mind, 'not my circus, not my monkeys' yadda-yadda_ ) Bruce beamed up into Thor's scarred but still almost boyishly handsome face.

"Well then," He began, wincing in the second it took his brain to realise that enthusiastically clapping a hand to Thor's shoulder was a great way to get a palm-full of sharply solid armour, grinning sheepishly. "Sounds like a fresh start all round." 

New sprung joy radiated from beneath Thor's skin, almost as bright as the sparks that occasionally dazzled their way across Thor's form since the fall of Asgard. He beamed down at Bruce, rubbing the back of his neck as he blushed harder, his gaze turned inwards as his hand drifted back around to touch his mouth, his smile softening, distracted. _Hopeful_.

"Indeed," Thor murmured again.

A new home and now happiness too? Despite the difficulties that still lay before them, Bruce couldn't help but smile at Thor's obvious wonderment as he steered the now goofily grinning Royal out of the room and along the corridor, cognisant of the impending speech, a startled laugh swiftly stifled as a thought suddenly occurred to him.

Bruce grinned, a devilish and decidedly green glint rising in his eyes.

The Hulk' s _'Break His Heart, I'll Break Your Legs'_ speech to Loki was going to be SO. MUCH. FUN.

Fin.

Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative. H. G. Wells


End file.
